Hold
by Nyx159
Summary: PpG/RrB. "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." In which they learn that trust is a door to open, not a wall to break down.


A/N: After getting into a quite a few of the PPG fanfics on this site, I finally decided to write one of my own. :)

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**Prelude**

**.**

_He_ had walked up to her on one scorching summer day. Maybe he had known it was _her_, or maybe he hadn't—she had never thought to ask. But sitting under a tree as refuge from the rippling rays of the sun, Blossom hadn't been quite able see who it was that was approaching her until it was far too late. She recalled thinking that in that moment, that phrasing rather melodramatic. However, the more scholarly part of her now thought that in retrospect, maybe it had been this one conversation that sparked everything off.

When Blossom had sensed a shadow standing over her, she pried her eyes open. She remembered feeling half-grateful for the shade and half-frustrated by the body heat that seemed to surround him in waves. The next thing she had registered was that this guy was wearing a red hoodie— even on a raging hot day? This guy must be a little nuts— and a red cap.

Red eyes.

She had shot straight up from the ground. "Brick?"

The boy had slipped out of his relaxed countenance for just a moment, his eyebrows rising. And then he offered a two-fingered mock-salute as he relaxed once more.

Blossom had been instantly suspicious. Her eyes had darted around the park in a vain search for his siblings; they weren't there. She had tensed as she refocused her attention on her childhood arch-nemesis, the villain who had beaten her and her sisters to a bloody pulp, the one who had mysteriously disappeared for eleven years after their last confrontation— the leader of the Rowdyruff Boys—

"You wouldn't know where the nearest Pho restaurant is, would you?" Brick had asked.

Whatever she had been expecting from him, that really wasn't it.

Blossom's eyes had narrowed dangerously. "Going to steal something?"

Brick had shrugged. It was a vague gesture that had done nothing to reassure her. Not that anything that would've come out of his mouth would've comforted her, but it was the principle of the thing. Again, he asked, "So, do you or don't you?"

"What are you doing here?" she had bit out.

"In case you couldn't tell," he had said with an impatient sigh. "I'm asking for directions."

Blossom had bristled at that. "_I meant,_ what are you doing in Townsville?"

Brick had smirked at that. This was as warm a welcome from a Powerpuff as he was going to get, and he knew it. "I live here now."

"No, you don't!" she had said petulantly. "You can't live here!"

"That's for me to decide," had been his reply. "Nearest Pho restaurant. Where is it?"

"Maybe if you told me _why—"_

Brick had rolled his eyes. "I'll ask someone else."

The next ten seconds she had spent fuming was all it took for him to turn back around leisurely. The sight of his retreating figure— the slow, relaxed way he was walking suggested that he thought he might _belong _here, Blossom thought, her jaw clenching— did nothing to cool her off at all. The nerve of him, to walk away from her! As if she would let him out of her sight!

"Wait!" Blossom had blurted out. Brick, for all of his chemical X-enhanced hearing, had pretended not to hear her.

Seriously?

Blossom had zipped after him, but his slow pace had made it rather awkward for her to stomp angrily beside him. "Why do you need to go to the nearest Pho restaurant?"

Brick had shrugged. "That's my business. Why are you following me?"

"That's my business," she had sniffed.

"Actually, as this involves me," Brick had spoken with a drawl. "I have every right to know."

Blossom's eyes had narrowed at him. He did have a point. "I don't trust you."

"You don't have to trust me."

"I do if you're going to be wandering about in Townsville."

Brick had looked at her, an eyebrow raised, unimpressed. "This isn't a rule written anywhere."

"Well— no, but—"

They had stopped in front of an elderly lady. Brick offered her a nod, ignoring Blossom's accusatory looks. "You wouldn't happen to know where the nearest Pho restaurant is, would you?"

The woman had offered them both a warm smile. "You'll have to go down that street, and turn a left. Keep going left after every corner until you see the Bowling Alley— huge sign, you can't miss it— and then, just go straight from there."

Brick thanked her quietly.

"Excuse me, young man?" the woman called. "I'm guessing you're new here."

Brick nodded.

The woman smiled again. "Welcome to Townsville!"

If it had been possible, Brick seemed to relax a little more after that. Brick set off on his new route and Blossom trailed beside him, shooting suspicious looks all the while. Brick however, had seemed undeterred by her— and the heat, Blossom had thought enviously as she felt sweat trickle down her brow— strolling casually across the streets.

Into her life.

"What brought you to Townsville?" Blossom had asked.

Brick hadn't even glanced at her. "Is this an interrogation or a conversation?"

"Both."

"If I answer, will you bug off?" he had asked her bluntly.

"If your answers and intentions are sincere," she had said. "Then, fine. I will."

Brick had smiled at that, a quirky lift of his lips that for whatever reason, had struck her as rare. Disarmed momentarily, Blossom had spent minutes walking with him in a silence that she realised, much later, made her look rather stupid.

Studying her counterpart from the corner of her eye, she couldn't help but acknowledge how he seemed to radiate a quiet sense of self-confidence that suggested that he was a leader. He had ditched that mullet he'd been sporting as a five-year old, but still kept his hair just past shoulder length. And then, there was that red hoodie, the baggy black trousers and his sneakers.

"Aren't you boiling in all that?" had been her first interrogative question, spoken without thought.

"You get used to it," had been his reply. Now at the Pho Restaurant— which she had somehow never seen in her life, Brick decided to stroll up to the nearest waiter and placed three orders of pho, to go , as opposed to finding himself a seat in the restaurant to wait to be served.

As they waited, Brick had leaned against the nearest wall, studying the establishment with slight interest. Blossom on the other hand, had been trying to decipher what exactly was happening. Surely, there had to be some hidden motive behind all this.

"Why Pho?" she had asked.

"Boomer."

"Where are your brothers?"

"Home."

He was quickly proving to be rather terrible at conversation.

"Why are you out?"

"My turn to get lunch."

"Why are you here, in Townsville?"

Brick had sighed. "We live here now."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"I don't trust you."

"You don't have to trust me," he had said again. "To be honest, I don't give a rat's ass about your trust."

Blossom's jaw had slackened at that. "Why you—"

"Your order, sir!" the waiter called. What a coincidence.

Blossom had tensed immediately. This had to be it. She could see it in her head so easily. Brick would grab the take out and proceed to beat the waiter, and everyone else in the restaurant, up. Once a villain, always a villain, after all—

Instead, Brick had pulled out a few notes and paid the waiter in exchange for the meal. "Keep the change, man."

Blossom's eyes had widened at that. She had stood at the corner of the restaurant in shock, even confusion. In retrospect she realised she must've looked all kinds of stupid, but he had disarmed her yet again. She had only vaguely registered Brick offering her that same, mocking, two-fingered salute in goodbye as he walked out the door.

"See you around."

"Is that a threat or a promise?" she had muttered to herself. Because really, what was _that?_

Whatever he was up to, Blossom had resolved to get to the bottom of it.

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A/N: R&R :)


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